Author's Note:
As the Doctor approaches the cause of the universe's disturbance Seska finds himself struggling with human nature...
"Morning Doc."
The Doctor scowled at Jack as he entered the office. Ash was sitting at the Doctor's desk, working on his papers as the Doctor regarded the window thoughtfully.
Jack handed the Doctor some file folders, which the Doctor placed down on front of Ash without giving it much thought.
Ash groaned quietly.
"Everything allright?" asked Jack.
Both Ash and the Doctor retorted a death-glare; they agreed that one thing that definitely united them was their hate for Jack's conversationality.
The Doctor was the first to reply:
"Reassess what you've just said and try again."
Then some of the papers flew towards Jack.
Jack sighed and weighed up his chances on both of them; eventually he concluded that Ash was the one who wouldn't try to rip off his face; at least not as soon as he'd open his mouth.
But the Doctor was probably the one who knew more... he definitely knew more than he gave away. And he'd definitely not told Ash, no... they weren't that close... at least not right now...
Well, in the worst case the Doctor would shoot him; and he'd be back in a minute or so.
"Can I have a word with you in private?" asked Jack.
The Doctor had his hands on his neck even before he could have opened his mouth again.
"You're getting on my nerves Harkness" hissed the Doctor "First you want my TARDIS stored in one of your Weevil-cages..." "It's our high-security safe and it's for your own convenience" replied Jack while struggling for air; the Doctor didn't even seem to take any notice
"...and after putting my family in danger you're expecting me to be relaxed and calm. Well, I'm not calm Jack! And right now I see no reason why I shouldn't tear the skin off your face strip by strip..."
"Because he will be back in a minute" replied Ash without taking his eyes off the papers.
Jack smiled at him sarcastically.
"Thanks Ash."
The Doctor's penetrating stare seemed to dig its way into Jack's skull; eventually Jack gave in.
"I'm sorry and I'll shut up now" he mumbled eventually.
The Doctor's piercing eyes became numb.
He growled and spat something in his own language before joining Ash's side again.
"All I want you to know is that I'm not trying to keep you away from your TARDIS" added Jack as oppressive silence was about to spread throughout the room "If you want to take her with you..."
"I can't take her with me" interrupted the Doctor and met Jack's gaze once more.
Automatically Jack took a step back.
"I can't bring her home as long as my children are there" explained the Doctor; "And in case you're interested the headache is getting worse again. So if one of your idiotic bedfellows would like to make little notes about it..."
"It's alright" Ash tried to calm the Doctor and started stroking his back tenderly.
To Jack's surprise this actually seemed to have an effect on him.
"There's no reason for getting upset; Jack just wanted to make clear that it is your TARDIS after all and that you're the only one in charge concerning what to do with her; and he won't certainly try to run tests on her because he knows that this would be violation of your trust."
"A human being from the fifty-first century doesn't even know the meaning of the word 'violation'... right, Jack?"
Jack was in mid-sentence "I never had...!" as the Doctor cut him off by using one word.
"Italy."
Silence spread as Ash glared at the Doctor who folded his arms while growling at Jack.
Ash sighed and arose to let the Doctor take his seat again; then he leaned closer and whispered into the Doctor's ear: "And by the way: I'm not his bedfellow and you may shoot me before I become one of Harkness' sex-toys."
-ΘΣ-
Seska was only waiting five minutes; and already he hated it.
Weird and bad habit of his father, some may have said... or used to say... he couldn't remember.
Uneasily he scratched his wrists.
True, he'd never been going out with a girl before; at least as far as he could remember.
But maybe it wasn't the date that bothered him but with whom he had the date.
And he was already dreading the minute when the girl would walk into the small cafe where he was forced to wait for her.
Thinking of the girl who'd had possesses the impertinence to call him and ask him out on a date...
Seska looked back and forth between the table and the door.
He knew that it wasn't too late to make an attempt to escape; and yet he didn't even know what he was thinking.
But something about that girl made him feel... uneasy.
Seska didn't even understand it himself. How could she, as a simple female human being, make him feel insecure?
Maybe it was the realisation that he knew nothing about girls. Nothing at all.
It was days like this, he concluded, where he regretted not having a sister anymore...
Apparently the other costumers didn't take much notice as Seska doubled over in pain, his head having an unpleasant meeting the table in front of him.
The prickling pain that had started at his temples shot through his skull like a thunderbolt, melting his thoughts into an unserviceable lump of mind.
Seska groaned, slowly raising his head again.
He found two cups being placed in front of him.
"I apologize for the inconvenience" hissed Seska through gritted teeth "but I didn't order..."
His gaze had reached the stranger's face by now; he found himself looking into a pair of golden brown eyes.
"This shouldn't have happened."
-ΘΣ-
Once more the Doctor turned his attention to Jack.
"You better not run a scan on my ship; she's very thin-skinned and I can't promise you that she'll leave this place in one piece if you try to play any tricks on her. Old ladies are very sensitive, you know."
To the Doctor's disappointment Jack himself wasn't sensitive enough to feel that the Doctor would have wanted to have a word with Ash in private.
But knowing that he was only an employee he got accustomed to the idea of displaying his feelings in public; so he pushed Ash down into his chair again and, due to the lack of available seats, sat in his lap.
Ash stroked the Doctor's back while the Doctor made little notes on papers; he darted a sideway glance at Jack and decided on speaking quietly:
"So... what is he up to?"
"Are we talking about Jack or him?" asked the Doctor.
"Him" replied Ash.
"Too bad" added the Doctor "Jack would be a lot easier."
Both the Doctor and Ash watched Jack making calls, notes and rearranging the shelves.
"He's not really working, is he?" asked Ash after a while.
The Doctor shook his head: "Only eavesdropping."
"So... what is he up to?" Ash repeated his question in a lower voice, not to draw Jack's attention towards him.
"I don't know" mumbled the Doctor; and all he could do was repeating his reply as he felt that a more imaginative answer was expected of him.
Eventually he waved a hand wearily.
"He keeps sending me messages via the Psychic Paper; I don't even know why he does it."
"What kind of messages?" asked Ash as if clinging to the last straw he saw right now.
The Doctor opened his wallet.
Ash regarded it thoughtfully.
"I thought it might change when you looked at it a while longer..." he mumbled, eventually adding "Shouldn't it change when you let someone else have a look at it?"
The Doctor shrugged.
"And what does it say?" Ash went on.
The Doctor cocked an accusing eyebrow at him:
"I thought you could decipher any language."
"Normally I can" snapped Ash, helplessly trying to defend himself; he inspected the message again.
"Is this the Master's handwriting...? It's... well, it's terrible penmanship..."
The Doctor nudged him in the ribs.
"But shouldn't... at least your TARDIS should translate it... shouldn't she?" added Ash.
The Doctor gave the paper another inquisitive look.
"Apparently the TARDIS has lost her power... at least over this..."
His gaze reached further down to find rest on the table.
"Jack?"
Jack turned around, tossing the file folders aside.
"What does is say?" asked the Doctor, running a finger over the carved wood.
"He Shall Return..." replied Jack but got cut off by the Doctor, firmly enquiring:
"Does it read: 'He Shall Return'?"
Jack stared at the table; eventually he shrugged.
"Still looks like a bunch of circles to me."
"And apparently" the Doctor breathed out deeply while he considered this again "they've changed."
"Changed?" repeated Jack. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"So the TARDIS has stopped translating" summarised Ash.
"Take a look at the carved writing, will you Ash?" prompted the Doctor; "You should be used to my handwriting by now."
Ash regarded the signs thoughtfully, slowly writing the circles and lines from the table into the air.
He concentrated hard on memorizing the glyphs and dots he'd seen before...
Lastly he raised his eyebrows at the Doctor.
"Does this...?"
"Yes" interrupted the Doctor "and you'd do me a favour by not saying it out loud."
Ash stared back at the table.
"...but how? How is this possible?"
"Apparently" interposed Jack "the Master has mastered the ability to change reality."
The Doctor glared at him.
"He's not changing reality!" snapped the Doctor "He's meddling with causality and reliance; he's tearing logic apart by ripping momentum out of the universe's natural elements and letting it snap back into a wrong place! And he never masters anything he just fakes everything!"
Jack had fallen silent as Ash tried to calm him down once more.
But there was no stopping the Doctor this time.
"And you keep your hands off me" snapped the Doctor and smacked him in the face "And don't try to bridle my emotions, you can't control me!"
"I'm not..." Ash began but broke up abruptly as he felt the Doctor reaching into his mind and shattering his current thoughts by thrashing them around in his skull.
"Next time it's your memories" growled the Doctor as he walked past a speechless Jack.
-ΘΣ-
Seska's mouth had dropped; and sadly his mind was unable to produce the right words for this situation.
He could have gone well with 'My apologies; Have we met?' to make it sound less accusing; but instead he just said:
"Do I know you?"
The stranger had taken the available seat beside him even before Seska could have protested.
An unpleasant cold encircled the stranger; and it seemed to be spreading slowly.
Seska tried not to stare at him on purpose; though it wasn't easy.
Take his clothes, for instance.
Seska didn't mind people with a rather strange taste for fashion; but the man beside him was a wearing a toga; you couldn't describe it in other words.
Or maybe with one: Sheet.
And it came to his mind that they hadn't been en vogue for about... well, at least 2000 years.
"I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause" stated the stranger in a mild and almost warming voice, "I'm here to help."
Seska took no refusal to not answering his questions.
"Who are you?"
The stranger's eyes swivelled sideways; he regarded the door nearly as thoughtful as Seska.
"I have many names" he explained after a while "In fact I have no name at all. And you may call me what you like. But believe me, I'm here to help."
Seska shifted a bit uneasy.
The stranger didn't seem to draw anyone's attention. But why? Couldn't they see him? Why wouldn't they take any notice of a man dressed in a purple sheet? Was London this open-minded?
Seska sighed quietly.
Well, he doubted it.
"Thank you for your concern" replied Seska after eyeing him up closely "But I..."
Seska stopped as he felt the stranger's fingers gripping his hands and tightening around them. He looked up to meet his earnest gaze.
"It's my duty and responsibility" declared the stranger "While I appreciate you making decisions on your... father's behalf, you shouldn't forget who you are."
"Do you know my father?" asked Seska sceptically, convinced that either way his father never would have mentioned him anyway; "Have you two met?"
Seska heard him sighing crestfallen. The substantial coldness seemed to deliquesce like fog around him.
"He may not remember me..." replied the stranger, speaking in a tone that caused Seska's chest to hurt even more "We were disunited too soon."
Seska breathed in deeply.
Alright. Whoever was sitting right next to him knew how to temper with other people's minds.
And the way he talked... he didn't like admitting that he scared him.
"I know" added the stranger to his thoughts "I know how it feels. And I must say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the disturbances in your life." He leaned closer again; "But I'm not the cause."
Seska stared at him wide-eyed.
"How can you tell what...?"
"Let's just say we share the same talent for reading other people's minds" replied the stranger with a mild smile on his lips; "But I beg you to trust me, Seska, if that's not asking too much."
Seska nodded absent-minded, his eyes moving over to the door again; not even in his wildest dreams he would have hoped that the girl he dreaded would finally arrive.
"Do you trust me, Seska?" the stranger broached the subject again.
Seska breathed in deeply, making a decision at last.
He looked him in the eye pleadingly: "Please... just go away... I don't even know you... Please..."
The stranger sighed; then he arose.
Without a word he was just gone, disappearing into the grey outside world as he'd stepped through the door.
No-one had seemed to notice him; no-one had cared.
Seska stared at the cup in front of him. It was cold. The stranger's coldness was still lingering in the air.
And no one had wondered about him...
"Sorry, I'm late!"
The hurried girl's voice was a highly welcomed alternative to the stranger's absurd talking.
Seska sighed and smiled at Green who occupied the empty seat beside him.
"I didn't mean to be late... let's just say I was delayed, alright?"
Seska nodded half-heartedly, his thoughts still struggling with the strange encounter he'd just had.
Green leaned forward, her elbow nudging his; as Seska seemed unresponsive she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Did you just see that nutter? He was in here, wasn't he... you know, the one wearing a sheet...Did you see him?"
Seska turned his head around to face Green closer than he'd expected.
Well, he thought, at least she's noticed him. Maybe the weird ones are more normal than the others...
Green smiled, beaming with delight. Seska felt that something about her smiling like this made him feel uncomfortable; but most of all he was scared of the responses his body gave him...
He tried to look away, his hand accidently touching hers; Green grasped his fingers and squeezed them tightly.
Something about her soft and warm hands was disturbing; at least it seemed to disturb his heart.
Its rhythm had changed; and why was it so hard for him to concentrate on what she was saying?
"Would you like to?" Green repeated her question.
Seska nodded, lost in thought, before shaking his head again.
"My apologies" he began, one hand clutching at his temples "Would you be so kind as to repeat what you've just said?"
Green smiled charmingly.
"I love the way you talk to me" she smirked and leaned closer, brushing her face against his neck.
Seska drew a sharp breath and tried to move his hand between his skin and her face, ending with a cuddly girl nuzzling his hand.
"I talk with everyone like this"
He didn't like the feeling of blood rushing down into his pelvic area; neither did he like the ideas the libidinous part of his mind was suggesting.
"I love it" Green went on; Seska nodded uneasily.
Something strange arose inside of him... something new...
A feeling of ambition; a craving for possession; an anxiety to please her...
Seska breathed in deeply and quietly hummed to himself, helplessly trying to drown out the perverted propositions his mind offered.
As indisposition and unpleasantness yielded curiosity he felt his hands reaching for the exposed spot across her collarbones, tenderly stroking the warm and soft flesh.
(Well, in fact, there were more spots exposed right now than just her collarbones; however Seska's good breeding wouldn't allow this kind of indecent behaviour.)
Green purred quietly and she leaned back, her head brushing against his shoulders.
Seska didn't know what kind of feelings she evoked inside of him.
But he enjoyed them nonetheless.
Eventually Green would straighten up again and turn around.
Seska faced her with a strange calmness.
She searched his gaze, tentatively scanning in order to evaluate his next move. She had to admit she didn't like his eyes; they made her nervous.
She grabbed his hands and moved them further down her chest to divert his probing stare from her eyes.
Seska stared at her penetratingly; (which was the only way in which this word could be used in a bad way, at least in her opinion)
It was the coldness of his eyes that scared her; his eyes were warm.
They seemed to burn with unbridled power.
However Seska closed his eyes in delight as he felt Green's breasts underneath his fingers.
And Green congratulated herself once more on knowing exactly how to distract a man.
However she felt that the tension was still building up.
So she leaned back a bit further and breathed in deeply:
"A good moment for asking you out on a second date, right?"
Seska stared her in the eye unabashed.
The he sealed her lips with a kiss.
Green wrapped her arms around his neck and moved against his lips; he enjoyed Seska in his current state of arousal.
Mind wouldn't have been appropriate, she figured.
-ΘΣ-
The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, a displeased grunt coming from his lips.
"Why won't you help?!"
The TARDIS didn't seem flattered; neither did she seem pleased with her pilot's current state of mind.
She dreaded the awakening madness that would soon bear fruit.
"Answer me!" demanded the Doctor "Where is he?"
All he received was a uncertain vibration that was transmitted throughout the ground.
"For any God's sake answer me you bloody old tart!"
The vibration stopped; and so did the humming.
The Doctor panted heavily as his skull started to hurt again; in fact it was feeling as if it would split in two any second now.
"I... I'm..." the Doctor breathed in deeply and tried to avoid thinking about the possible cause of the headaches he was experiencing.
He'd been warned about this.
Back in his days at the Academy he'd been warned.
Alongside Koschei.
With a scream of rage the Doctor brought down his fists on the keyboard and controller.
He didn't even budge as he received an electric shock.
"I'm in pain..." the Doctor gasped for air "and I beg you, do you hear me, I beg you... please... help me...!"
A quiet buzzing sound arose from a distant floor.
"I didn't mean calling you a t... a tart... I just..."
the Doctor panted slightly as he managed to get into an upright position again.
"I need your help. It feels like dying... only worse... please... help me..."
The TARDIS response was as well uncertain as reluctant.
The Doctor sighed as he run his finger through his hair.
"You know him; we both know him. By Borusa's beard, tell me... where is he?"
The response was unambiguous.
The Doctor breathed out and sucked in the TARDIS cool air.
She would succumb... she wouldn't abandon him after all...
The Doctor felt his mind searching. He felt his thoughts racing as he reached out... as he tried to touch the golden shimmer that lingered in his thoughts... always with him... never leaving
The Doctor felt the touch.
He held his breath.
"Eresh'ala*."
-ΘΣ-
[The Beloved's First in a mad world awoke
The more he saw the less he spoke
The more he listened the more he knew
Each night he watches over you]
Eresh'ala = Doctor